Entertaining childrens book for young readers illustrated similiar to a comic book. Written like a class trip, it will keep a child entertained with an adventure-like tale of parachuting out of an airplane and travelling back in time to Ancient Egypt. Facts are placed in smaller captions at the bottom of the pages to initiate discussion. ( )

Ms. Frizzle's adventure this time takes us back to ancient Egypt to learn about its culture and history. Ms. Frizzle and the other people from the plane go around visiting different sites and learning about how ancient Egypt ran.

I liked how informative this book was, but at the same time it can be a little too informative at once. Each page is filled with so much information that it is very easy to get overwhelmed.

This book would be great to use in a lesson over ancient Egypt. I might have the students make their own pyramids out of Legos as well. ( )

Wikipedia in English

Ms. Frizzle, science teacher extraordinaire (in the tremendously popular Magic School Bus series by Joanna Cole and illustrator Bruce Degen), parachutes into social studies in the first of the new series from the same creative pair. On the first day of school vacation, the inimitable, redheaded Ms. Frizzle joins a tour group bound for Egypt. When the plane trip gets too monotonous, Ms. Frizzle invites the group to jump ship with her. Somehow, tour guide Herb ends up in contemporary Cairo, while everyone else lands in ancient Egypt! Here's where Ms. Frizzle's teaching skills come in handy. By the end of the vacation, members of the tour group--and readers--have learned more about mummies, pyramids, Re the sun god, and ancient Egyptian's teeth than they ever imagined.

With their familiar blend of information sharing and humor, Cole and Degen present what might in any other format be an overwhelming amount of information in a lively, entertaining, easy-to-absorb style. Full-color cartoon-style text and illustrations allow readers to explore Egypt even as Ms. Frizzle and her inadvertent students do the same. Witty asides take the shape of travel diaries, postcards home, and messages on Herb's megaphone ("I'm the tour guide!", "Help! I lost my tour group!"). Ms. Frizzle's sly pretended ignorance at times also makes for high hilarity. "I can't imagine how that happened. Can you?" she says, after the airplane door somehow swings open. If only all education was this much fun! (Ages 5 to 8) --Emilie Coulter